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B A K E R Y , fro m p a g e 4
the label, and others are stamped with a
processing code that includes the initials of
the factory where the snack was made. The
Portland bakery’s code, for example, is
“AH,” while products made in Mexico carry
“MM” or “MS.”
The campaign is also encouraging
consumers to tell store managers to stock
only U.S.-made Nabisco products. However,
that strategy has proven less than fruitful
locally.
“We go into stores and tell them that
these products are made in Mexico,” said
Taylor at the BCTGM Local 364. “They
don’t care.”
Guzzinati said stores pay the same price
for Mondelez products regardless of where
they were manufactured.
At the roundtable
We go into stores
discussion in the Northeast
and tell them that
Portland church, some bakery
these products are
employees, including a laid-off
made in Mexico.
worker who had traveled from
rr
They don't care.
Chicago, said closures and
CAMERON TAYLOR, layoffs were hitting African-
B C T G M LO C AL. 3 6 4
American and Latino
R E P R E S E N TA TIV E
communities particularly hard.
Kennedy is one of several
employees still working at the Portland
bakery who was hired in 1992, when
Nabisco received a tax incentive to hire
residents in the predominantly African-
American neighborhood that bordered the
facility.
Another Mondelez employee who was
hired at that time, Charlotte England, said
there are many single mothers who rely on
their job at the Portland bakery to support
their children.
Since 2008, Oregon has given the plant’s
operator more than a half-million dollars in
tax credits and rebates, according to Good
Jobs First’s online subsidy tracker. In all,
Mondelez has received more than $91
million in public subsidies from state and
local governments in the U.S. since 1993.
On Nov. 16, the union’s campaign, which
has the backing of the AFL-CIO, held a
national day of action with protesters in
P H O T O BY E M IL Y GREEN
L am ar Kennedy speaks at a Sept. 2 7 news conference at St. Charles Borromeo Church. He has worked at the Nabisco/
Mondelez bakery on Northeast Columbia Boulevard for 25 years. He is also the pastor at Church o f God in Christ.
Portland gathered outside a Walmart to
spread awareness of the boycott of Mexico-
made Nabisco snacks.
This past summer, the Portland bakery
experienced a weeklong shutdown when
Mondelez told workers no more inventory
was needed. Production in Mexico,
however, continued during that time,
workers said. They also reported temporary
reductions in production that meant fewer
hours to go around.
As of the beginning of 2018, Taylor said,
Mondelez employees in Portland are “in a
holding pattern,” while they live in constant
fear that each day of work might be their
last.
Adding insult to injury, bakery workers
were shocked when they arrived at work
during a snack sale for employees in
September.
It was “a product sale for the things that
we make, and some of the other bakeries
make,” Kennedy said. “They had the nerve
to bring in products from Mexico to sell to
us, the employees!”
A handful of U.S. lawmakers have taken
Ì
action in response to workers’ concerns.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to
Mondelez’s outgoing CEO Rosenfeld in June
to express dissatisfaction with the
company’s shift of production to Mexico. He
also asked the company to share its long
term plans for investment in America’s
workforce. According to Wyden’s office, a
Mondelez representative responded to his
request verbally, conveying that the
company remained committed to the
Portland bakery.
In December, U.S. Rep. John Lewis
(D-Ga.) was among a group of five
congressmen who signed off on a letter to
U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer, urging him, in part, to push for
better labor standards in Mexico and reduce
incentives for offshoring while re-negotiating
the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The congressmen pointed to Mondelez’s
actions as an example of why these changes
are important if the U.S. wants to save
manufacturing jobs.
emily@streetroots.org; Twitter @greenwrites
æ
CHECK THE LABEL: WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Workers and Grain Millers
The Bakery, Confectionery, T
union's “Check the Label” campaign encourages consumers
buy only those Nabisco products that are still made in th e 1
x> <• 5 »<
vA.
SSSySM
K
SsSK v
States. The graphic below, produced by the BCTGM union,
shows consumers the codes to look for. For more information,
visit fightforamericanjobs.org.
v* ) s
'
are TWO ways Io tell if your Nabisco snacks are
MADE IN MEXICO: _
is
Chec
the words “Made in Mexico’
check the plant identification code:
Monterrey,
E
I fa linas, Mexico
m
land, Ore
Fairlawn, N J
Richmond, Va.
Naperville, III.
G R A P H IC C O U R T E S Y O F B C T G M